49

In post-Communist Poland, although access to the archives of the Institute of National Memory (IPN) continues to be widespread, researchers are questioning the possible uses of these types of special sources. After recalling the stakes involved in debates among historians and the prospects opened up for research by police sources, the article presents the various ways in which these sources have been used by Polish scholars. This overview gives an idea of heterogeneous publications that were more than once made possible by the circumstances of the moment or by the personal resources brought to bear by the authors working on this type of collection, rather than by clear-cut rules for accessing archive documents.